The Best Years (story)

"The Best Years" is a short story by Willa Cather, first published after her death in the collection The Old Beauty and Others in 1948.^[1] It is her final work,^[2] and was intended as a gift to her brother, Roscoe Cather,^[3][4] who died as it was being written.^[5] Set in Nebraska and the northeastern United States,^[6][7] the story takes place over twenty years, tracing the response of Lesley Ferguesson's family to her death in a snowstorm.^[8][9]

The short story carries images or "keepsakes" from each of her twelve published novels and the stories in Obscure Destinies.^[10] In keeping with her own literary tradition, the story has been described as being steeped in a "sense of place", where "land and physical realities" work alongside (both influencing and being influenced by) the characters and their emotions.^[8][11] It also deals with what Cather described as the "accords and antipathies" of family relationships, including those between generations,^{[12][13][14][15]} and the feelings of loss that accompany these relationships.^[16][17][18] It has been described as her "final achievement" in pursuing the mystery genre,^[19] and as "a rich portrait" by scholar Ann Romines.^[20] It has been said to be "richer in domestic feeling than anything else she ever wrote",^[21] but it has also been completely ignored by some scholars,^[8] or seen as "a slackening into self-indulgence",^[22] "minor",^[23] "bad" or centered on "sentimental" "self-pity".^[24]

The story draws heavily on Cather's own life,^[25][26] and is among her most autobiographical of stories.^[27][28] Her friend and teacher, Evangeline "Eva" King, is the model for the character Evangeline Knightly.^[29][12] According to Cather, after she moved with her family to Red Cloud, Nebraska, King, as a principal of the high school, was "the first person who interviewed the new county pupil" and "was the first person whom I ever cared a great deal for outside of my own family."^[30] It has also been suggested that her brother, James Cather, served as a model for the character of Bryan Ferguesson; similarly, her brother John "Jack" Cather may be the basis for Vincent Ferguesson,^[31] and Roscoe Cather is Hector.^[5] Her own childhood home—in particular, the attic^[32]—is also depicted in the story, chiefly as small and overcrowded.^[33][34]

While much of Cather's writing has been described as male-centered, "The Best Years" continues her end-of-life tradition of exploring mother-daughter relationships through the lens of women, rather than men, with careful use of a female protagonist.^[35]

References